I’ve recently discovered and become addicted to Swap-bot.com. One of the recent swaps I’ve participated in was visiting other blogs and commenting. I enjoyed my little tour so much I thought I’d share it with you – you may just find a new (second-, next to this one, of course) favorite blog!

a.m. design - a blog of mirth and merriment

http://www.amdesigncollection.blogspot.com/

I love how she makes collages of pictures for so many of her posts! This one is by far my favorite.

Cupcakes and Cartwheels

http://judahsmommy.blogspot.com/

Cari is new to blogging, but with cuties like Judah and Ora around, I’m sure the blog fodder is going to pile up quick!

Ramblings from the animal house...

http://ramblingsfromtheanimalhouse.blogspot.com/

Why, yes, that is a skunk! She knits; she crochets; she’s witty – huzzah!

...aka darzy...

http://aimeedars.blogspot.com/

She loves Doctor Who and ink on pages – I may have found an additional best friend!

Birth of a Notion

http://www.birth-ofa-notion.com/

This blogger is a mail addict – but a she makes really cool mail, so it’s all good! She lost her beloved Maia (that’s her picture there) on Tuesday (July 20) – go give her some love. My kitty-momma heart breaks for her.

Meet the Browns!

http://jeffjessandmaxbrown.blogspot.com/

Just go read the Hot Lava post – thank me later. Ok, and drool over how adorable Max!

Living in Dar

http://nisbetfam.blogspot.com/

She does Muffin Tin Mondays and I can’t stop laughing over this post. Pray for poor Ethan’s mother…

Lily's Emporium

http://www.lilysemporiumofficial.blogspot.com/

A Glasgow goth girl who loves Kawaii and makes awesomeness like the hat above – what’s not to love?!

http://neomuyeppeo.org/

http://neomuyeppeo.org/

Another Kawaii fan and fun read!

365 days 365 Do It Yourself projects (No money spent)

http://alexandraandjulia.blogspot.com/

Awesomeness. Pure Awesomeness. Check out the instructions on how to make that neato shell bracelet up there, and the carryall – those are my favorites.

Read this post and save lives.

Yes, I can post links to Twitter and Facebook – and I did – but this is so important that I feel the need to pass it along in any way possible. As a result, many e-mails were sent and I’m reposting it here, since Mario very kindly gave me permission to repost it in e-mail and here. Thank you again, Mario, for helping to dispel the myths perpetuated by television and saving lives (this on top of being a hero serving your country). You can read the original post on his blog here.

This Article Was Written By Mario Vittone
Mario Vittone has nineteen years of combined military service in the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. His writing on maritime safety has appeared in Yachting, SaltWater Sportsman,On-Scene, Lifelines, and Reader’s Digest magazine. He has lectured extensively on topics ranging from leadership to sea survival and immersion hypothermia. He is a marine safety specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard.

If you have any questions at all – please post them in the gCaptain forums under “maritime safety.”

disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Coast Guard.

For more water survival tips be sure to visit USCG rescue Swimmer Mario Vittone’s gCaptain Page. Or follow Mario on Facebook.

TV doesn't imitate real life here.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Drowning? Not likely.

The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D.,  is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water.  And it does not look like most people expect.  There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind.  To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this:  It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening(source: CDC).  Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
   (Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue.  They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

• Head low in the water, mouth at water level
• Head tilted back with mouth open
• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
• Eyes closed
• Hair over forehead or eyes
• Not using legs – Vertical
• Hyperventilating or gasping
• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
• Trying to roll over on the back
• Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks O.K. – don’t be too sure.  Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning.  They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck.  One  way to be sure?  Ask them: “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are.  If they return  a blank stare – you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them.  And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Cuteness from Create & Delegate

In which there is sewing

Shirring is making a huge splash this summer, at least in the DIY sewing niche, which I love. I just haven’t gotten brave enough to try it myself yet. Well, that, and I haven’t unburied my sewing machine, either. This one may just give me the impetus I need though: Nicole of Create & Delegate has a tutorial to create a little girl’s shirred dress from an adult t-shirt. Cuteness! Be sure to check out her Etsy shop for a little bandana dress that put the A in adorable!

Is this pride of heritage or unpatriotic?

In which there is political debate

There’s some lively discussion going on over a picture I posted on Facebook. What do you think of flying the Mexican flag in Texas? There’s even more discussion on it on Michael’s wall where he shared it, discussing illegal immigration. And if you want some detailed, live-updating statistics on it, check out ImmigrationCounters.com, where you’ll discover that there are approximately 22,876,609 illegals in the US, 583,266 of whom are not Mexican.

How to crochet a granny square

In which there is crochet

The first crochet project I learned at my grandmother’s knee was the granny square (fitting, don’t you think?). A crochet blog I recently subscribed to called CrochetBug is a nice near-daily diary of a crochet artist. Imagine my delight when I saw a post on her “Great Granny Square,” in which the writer is creating a granny square solely from worsted-weight acrylic scraps that she has on hand. Check out the colorful reusing!

Vote and Spread Your Warmth!

The power of a simple gift.

In which there is voting for a good cause

Anyone that knows me moderately well knows that I’m a zealot for Operation Christmas Child. A few months ago I was introduced to a company called the Sweatshirt Blanket. It’s like having a blanket made out of your favorite sweatshirt. I’m blessed to have been given not one, but two of these blankets, and let me tell you: they are blissful! Well, the fantastic people at Sweatshirt Blanket have a monthly contest in which people nominate a charitable cause or organization and the cause getting the most votes is awarded with a dozen customized sweatshirt blankets that they can use for fundraising. It’s called the Spread Your Warmth campaign. This month Operation Christmas Child is one of the nominees. Go to the Sweatshirt Blanket Blog and vote for a cause on the sidebar. I’d love for you to vote for Operation Christmas Child, but I encourage you to vote for the cause that touches your heart the most. You can read about each nominee on the blog.

And various linkiness that I posted on Twitter

hehehe! >> Cat Purrs like Gremlin Video by Today on MySpace – MySpace Video http://mysp.ac/8YmIPt

add me to the orgy >> RT @Melzer And suddenly I do too. RT @gailcarriger Love this: Book Shelf Porn http://bit.ly/a2tbKd (SAFE for work, I promise!)

just bought this on Shirt.Woot; is anyone surprised at all? http://shirt.woot.com/shirts/shakespeare-a-z

more AwesomeSauce blogging from writer @Melzer; if there’s a kid in your life, read this! http://bit.ly/9SOwhH

Awesomesauce Fununny! >> Watch: Jeff Tweedy Recites “Single Ladies” A Jeff… | TwentyFourBit http://bit.ly/dch12g

Awesomesauce! http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2010/06/oreo-moon-phase-activity.html

What bunny trails did you follow on the Interwebs this week?

National Men’s Health Week is June 14-20. That’s right – the week before Father’s Day. This Father’s Day give the men you love the best gift of all – the gift of a healthy future. Did you know that new research has found that men are 31 percent less likely than women to have visited a doctor within the past year?  In fact, men report making fewer routine health care appointments compared with women (56.5 percent vs. 73.8 percent).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Ad Council are launching a new movement on behalf of their national public service advertising campaign designed to encourage middle-age men to learn which preventive medical tests they need to get and when to get them.

Help your Dad (and the other men in your life that you love) live longer. Here’s how:

• Send him an e-card for Father’s Day from http://www.dadtothedoc.org

• Ask him to take this quiz: http://www.ahrq.gov/healthymen/quiz.htm

• Encourage him to visit ahrq.gov/healthymen – he’ll find ton of information including:
  • recommended ages for preventive medical tests
  • a health care quiz designed to test knowledge of preventive health care
  • tips for talking with doctors
  • a glossary of consumer health terms
  • links to online resources to find more medical information

• Share the campaign on Twitter with links to www.ahrq.gov/healthymen and www.dadtothedoc.org and the hashtag #dadtothedoc

• Share the campaign on Facebook by linking to facebook.com/healthymen

If your dad is anything like my dad, it’ll take some serious work to get him to listen. Start now!

I swear to you I laugh out loud every time I read a post from Fighting Off Frumpy. Rita is one fununny woman. Who happens to be a mom. Who happens to deal with poop. A lot. Yeah, the link’s been over there in my sidebar for a while, but I’m using that Mommy Intuition mojo that tells me you haven’t gone to check it out, so, Hey – Check It Out Already!

Karen over at Verbatim (also in my library list over there that you haven’t acted upon) is also a funny read. Her unnatural fear of bugs makes for great Twitter fodder. Just ask her about the ginormous bug that invaded her office not too long ago.  Well, besides being funny, Karen is also thoughtful and posts about ways that she and her family help people (cool) and links to other cool and funny sites. Case in point: thx thx thx, in which Leah thanks everything from strangers to inanimate objects every day, and Pleated-Jeans, in which Jeff is funny about everything from ogres to Lost. Be warned: Christianity is not immune to Jeff, so if that offends you… well, then you take yourself too seriously.

I have a lunch date everyday. Well, kind of.  Jaime posts from Prudent Baby everyday around lunch time (I’m guessing that quiet second during nap time at her house), so I get to get my crafty fix then. She’s a tutorial maven, and if I ever unbury my sewing machine I’ll be stealing making a bunch of stuff from Her Prudentness. And yes, she’s on my library list that you haven’t read, too.